Residents bid to shore up flood-hit town amid Storm Babet

Sandbags have been placed along a breached river wall in Brechin to try to prevent another deluge after the town was hit by “devastating” flooding from Storm Babet.

River Street and nearby areas in the town were inundated with water when the adjacent River South Esk burst its banks in the early hours of Friday.

The water had receded on Saturday, but the area was still at risk of flooding amid a second red weather warning for heavy rain in Angus.

The street was left strewn with debris and covered in silt on Saturday, with many homes damaged by water in the lower floors.

Almost all residents had left after being advised to evacuate or were rescued by emergency workers.

Many were sheltering in rest centres set up in the town.

The unprecedented water levels of the river overtopped a flood defence wall installed in 2016, and an older section of the river wall was swept away.

Local haulage company FB Murray used lorries and diggers to move one-tonne sandbags along a section of the damaged wall in a bid to shore up the street.

Business owner Fred Murray said he had been “frustrated” by the lack of action and decided to go ahead with the work without the council’s permission.

He said: “We do a lot of work for oil and gas and wind farms, so we have an indication of what things are needed.”

His wife Grace said the breached wall was “dangerous” and they had decided to help.

Amanda McNeil, who owns the Birdgend Bar and Lounge, was in her flat above the premises when the flooding hit.

After she watched the sandbag work taking place from her window, she told the PA news agency it was “brilliant” that local businesses had stepped in.

She said: “I just hope that everything will be fine for everybody else.

“Because for a lot of people along there it’s their homes. At least when the power goes on we can go upstairs.

“I think I would have felt silly yesterday if I had needed to get taken out in a dinghy.”

Ms McNeil, her husband Scott and their family were working to clear out as much mud as they could from the ground floor of the pub.

The water had warped the flooring and knocked over large freezers, while much of the furniture was covered in river silt.

She said they are planning on “ripping up things” and reopening as soon as possible, but the pub is not insured due to being in a flood plain.

Charlie Warden, 55, has lived in Brechin for nine and a half years.

While his house was spared the flooding, water came up his drive and the power is still out.

He said: “It’s devastating. Garages, the local pub, everything’s devastated. It’s terrible.”

An official from Angus Council gave a briefing to the media on Saturday afternoon, saying the issue of the collapsed wall was being examined.

Asked about damage to the flood defences, Jacqui Semple, head of risk, resilience and safety for the council, said: “What I can tell you about any damage is that that is currently all being assessed, right across the board.

“Our roads teams are out just now, our engineers are out and will continue to be out.

“What we do know about Brechin, which is quite visible, is that an old section of the wall has been lost due to the inundation and the force of the water when it overtopped.

“So that will continue to be looked at. We’re currently looking at all of that because obviously there’s a safety issue there too and it’s barriered off just now.”